Assimilation effects in country image research

Abstract

The effects of acculturation and assimilation are significant parts of consumer research. However, a void exists in cross‐cultural research with a near‐absence of assimilation studies involving country‐of‐origin (CO) images. The current study fills this void by examining the extent of assimilation of host country CO stereotypes. CO stereotypes are examined for immigrants, first generation and more rooted citizens. The results of confirmatory factor analysis of CO perceptions regarding two different products from two different source countries endorse the potential value of assimilation/acculturation as a segmentation dimension. Our findings also indicate that the assimilation process is more gradual than can be expected based on the melting‐pot theory.